This place was somewhat unique.
There was an open space about the size of a basketball court in the center, about five meters in height, neatly carved out. Around it, there were four mining tunnels extending outward.
One of them was the tunnel that the fifty men, including Wei Cheng, had first arrived from. There was no need to explore it any further, even though there were several branch tunnels, they all led to dead ends.
The remaining three tunnels uniformly stretched towards three other directions.
But the problem was, these three tunnels were all blocked off.
Zhang Yong's plan was to dig through them, one after the other.
Simple, brutal, no questions asked.
As for who would do the digging, of course it would be those with tough skin and thick flesh.
The reason Zhang Yong sought Wei Cheng's cooperation for this was under the pretense that should an emergency situation arise, only a tank could stand up to it.
Wei Cheng did not refuse this matter, after all, if anyone had the highest defense at this moment, it was him.
He carefully observed the three blocked tunnels but could not discern anything special about them. These mining tunnels were all blocked off with a single chunk of ore, stacked from the outside in.
In other words, something dangerous from the outside must have terrified a group of miners into the tunnel, and they closed off all the exits.
"Little Wei, be careful. I feel like there's even more danger outside the tunnel."
Bald Brother whispered.
Wei Cheng nodded, choosing the one in the middle. He lifted a piece of ore and handed it to Bald Brother, who handed it to the next person, and so on until the tenth person.
This arrangement made things go a bit faster. In no time, they had cleared a space of five to six meters within the mining tunnel.
At this moment, Wei Cheng suddenly shuddered. Just as he was moving another stone, he found a dried-up arm underneath it.
Even though he had already seen dead bodies, Wei Cheng was still startled, hair standing on end as a cold chill crawled up his back. His reflexive reaction made his Moving Mountain Inner Strength explode instantaneously. Subconsciously, he activated the Golden Bell Shield; in an instant, a faint golden aura emerged all over his body, standing out remarkably in the pitch-black tunnel.
When the people behind him saw this, they were already on edge, as jumpy as frightened birds. Thinking that something had happened, they ran off faster than rabbits.
"It's okay, it's just a mummified corpse."
Wei Cheng went out and whispered an explanation before carefully moving the stone to unearth the body. Apparently, it was a miner because it had a flattened basket on his back.
He didn't know what material the basket was made of, but although it was flattened, it didn't rot or break. After Wei Cheng opened it, he found two fist-sized, jade-colored ores. Naturally, these became his property.
He then checked the mummy's clothing and, very unexpectedly, found a small bundle wrapped in cloth with four unspoiled vegetable pies.
Wei Cheng was a bit perplexed and quickly hid it, continuing to look at the mummy.
If there's a corpse, there will be rot, and even if the vegetable pies were wrapped in cloth, they could not have avoided contamination while the body was decaying. But the current situation was very different.
Unless the moment this miner died, all his blood and bodily fluids had been sucked out, leaving him a mummy.
"Was this the work of the Spider Demon?"
Wei Cheng wondered. A spider's feeding process might indeed look like this. But this miner died in the tunnel. His companions didn't even have time to save him and could only seal him off in the tunnel with rocks. The danger, therefore, came from outside: a monster that could instantly drain a person into a mummy.
Thinking of this, Wei Cheng dragged the mummy out, causing everyone to jump in fear and refrain from checking it. Naturally, they did not know about his gain.
Wei Cheng did not say anything and led the way back into the tunnel. The others entered under the threat of Zhang Yong and the rest and continued to pass the rocks outward.
Next, as the blocked tunnel was progressively cleared, Wei Cheng found another mummified body sealed beneath the stones. On this one, he found a water bladder with some clean water left and three vegetable pies.
The gains were great, but they also meant that the danger was getting closer, the exit could be just ahead at any time.
"We need to take a rest."
Wei Cheng stepped forward, speaking icily to Zhang Yong. They had already cleared almost thirty meters of the mining tunnel. Although they weren't greatly fatigued, they absolutely needed to recover.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yong hesitated for a moment but before he could say anything, a young man in his twenties behind him cheerfully said:
"But Brother Wei, the exit might be just a short distance ahead, wouldn't it be better to clear the remaining tunnel with one final push? Then we can lead the charge and we will certainly not forget everyone's efforts when the rewards come."
This man was named Song Guiming, he also practiced the Purple Cloud Method. With a glib tongue, he flattered effortlessly and had gained Zhang Yong's trust in these few days. He had seemingly become Zhang Yong's closest confidant.
However, anyone with discerning eyes could see that he was merely leading the naive Zhang Yong around.
The people of their group didn't care about their silly names, they were just using the clueless Zhang Yong as their pawn.
Wei Cheng may not be a savvy careerist, but how could he not see through this?
With a word, he gave Song Guiming a cold look, "I need to rest, if you want to go on, be my guest."
With that, he headed straight for the previous tunnel. Although there was a Monster Stone lurking in it, as long as no one shouted or screamed, it was actually the safest place to be.
He aimed to elevate his Moving Mountain inner strength to 120 years before the mining tunnel was opened.
With this, if he encountered the blood-sucking demon, he would have a shot at survival.
"He has the Golden Bell Shield, no wonder he's so arrogant."
"Hmph, he just got lucky and was the first to touch the power-transferring stele. If our Brother Yong had touched it first, would we have let this brat be so rampant?"
Several people, lead by Song Guiming, started sarcastically gossiping. Their immature tactics were extremely effective on Zhang Yong, who was still disturbed by the fact that he had been just one step away from touching the power-transferring stele earlier.
For a moment, Zhang Yong's face turned a mix of red and black, but he quickly forced a smile. "No problem, if Brother Wei says to rest, we will wait, no matter how long it takes! You guys stop your nagging. Brother Wei and I, our bond is forged through life and death situations!"
By this time, Wei Cheng had returned to the end of the tunnel where he first appeared. Despite its rundown condition, it still comforted him.
After placing a few stones at the entrance, he sat cross-legged. After drinking some water and eating some vegetable cakes, he began to run the Method of the Moving Mountain with all his might, one cycle after another.
During this time, with the encouragement of Song Guiming and the others, Zhang Yong came to urge Wei Cheng twice, but he remained silent, challenging Zhang Yong with his silence to bring it on and fight if he's got the guts.
Although Zhang Yong was known as the bravest in the world, he dared not disturb the Monster Stone and could only leave gloomily.
Finally, as Wei Cheng's total Moving Mountain inner strength reached 120 years, a loud sound of thunder echoed in his mind. The power-transferring stele he initially selected reappeared, and simultaneously, 120 years of Moving Mountain inner strength burst forth, advancing yet another level.
This time, however, Wei Cheng was much calmer, because the information that the reappearance of the baptism stele revealed was different.
Originally, his breakthrough in Moving Mountain inner strength was actually the opening of a new and vital meridian in his body.
The Moving Mountain method he previously practiced seemed to distribute the Moving Mountain inner strength through the major meridians and acupuncture points throughout his body, but in reality, it only tapped into a small part of his body's potential.
Only after breaking through could he unlock more of his body's latent energy.
And these meridians and acupuncture points opened after breaking through are called innate meridians. As far as the Moving Mountain method is concerned, they are called the Nine Innate Meridians.
For every 60-year cycle of inner strength accumulated, one innate meridian can be opened. Once all nine innate meridians are opened, one can advance even further.
Wei Cheng didn't understand what advancing further meant, but he could plainly feel that his physical state now was at least twice as strong as before.
In the dark tunnel, he could see as clearly as in broad daylight. The breathing, whispers, and even heartbeats of the people over a hundred meters away became incredibly clear under his purposeful listening.
When he tried to activate the first layer of the Golden Bell Shield, he heard a muffled hum and a Golden Bell illusion that was three inches away from his body emerged.
This was much more dominant than when Zhang Yong exerted his full strength to emit a purple mist using the Purple Cloud Method.